New York City wants former Mayor Eric Adams to find a new lawyer.
In a court filing Tuesday, attorneys for the city's Law Department asked to be allowed to withdraw from defending Adams from a suit alleging he sexually assaulted a woman when he was a transit cop in 1993.
Todd Shapiro, a spokesman for Adams, said in a statement that his office does not comment on ongoing litigation, but added that the former mayor “has been proven innocent before and remains confident that the facts will ultimately prevail.”
When the suit was first filed in 2023, city lawyers said that, based "on the facts and circumstances known at that time," the then-mayor was "eligible for representation."
However, the lawyers added in the filing that as the record of the case continued to develop, "this Office has concluded that Mr. Adams was not acting within the scope of his City employment at the time."
The person Mayor Zohran Mamdani named as the city's top lawyer, Corporation Counsel Steven Banks, said in a statement that he's the one who made the decision to drop Adams.
“I have reviewed former Mayor Eric Adams’ right to legal representation at the City’s expense under the General Municipal Law in this matter. Based on my review of new evidence since the original decision to represent him was made, I have determined that he is not entitled to representation by the City in this matter," the statement said.
"Accordingly, the Law Department has asked the court to permit our office to withdraw from representing the former Mayor.”
The suit brought by Lorna Beach-Mathura, who was a civilian employee of the Transit Police, alleges that her then-colleague Adams demanded oral sex in return for helping her get a promotion and exposed himself to her.
Adams has denied the allegations.
Banks' statement did not elaborate on the new evidence that he said led to the decision, but the court filing said it involved "paper discovery and the deposition testimony of Lorna Beach-Mathura."
Beach-Mathura's suit was filed two days before the expiration of the New York Adult Survivors Act, which gave adult sexual assault survivors one year to sue regardless of when the original statute of limitations expired.
Megan Goddard, Beach-Mathura's attorney, said in a statement Tuesday that her client "spoke out long before the Adult Survivors Act gave her a right to sue because she believed that Eric Adams’ alleged sexual assault of her disqualified him from serving as Mayor of New York City."
"Even though she had come forward before there was any financial incentive to do so, Adams still had the City bankroll his defense. We are happy that the Mamdani administration is taking steps to right this wrong," Goddard added.
Adams, a fierce critic of Mamdani, dropped out of last year's mayoral contest after his poll ratings plummeted and amid federal bribery charges against him, which were later dropped by the Justice Department under President Donald Trump. Adams had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
